Power amp with real cab garbage sound

Perhaps not helpful but this has not been my experience at all. I use a solid-state power amp and cabs, and often the AFX is to me warmer and more compressed than my real amps. I have to actively remind myself to keep the gain and master volume on the low side on the AFX to avoid that. And I'm often surprised by how clanky and fizzy the real amps can be.

I heard those HB cabs with V30's are kind of flatter response / (ie: heavy mids) as it is, relative to other Celestion's. Those amps are also mid-heavy, making matters worse.

Traditionally I'd recommend turning cab sims off, but in this case seems best to leave them on.

Won't be 'flat' or 'authentic' or whatever, but if it sounds good who cares....

keep in mind that the tone may change once those V30's break in. I heard that happens with those HB V30's.
 
That's what I'm getting at. If you're using a physical cab, then that's effectively an eq filter on your overall sound. Using a cab block on the grid plus a physical cab should sound super dark and muffled, like there's a blanket over your speakers, because that's effectively two eq's filtering out the highs and lows.

Here's something to consider. If you enable a cab block AND run your axe-fx into a physical cab, and then you start tweaking, you're going to be tweaking against that super dark, double-cab-filtered sound. That's why I'm asking you to post your preset. You could have just dialed in a hyper-bright, treble focused tone that doesn't sound good unless it gets double-filtered by the cab IR and physical cab. If you post your preset we can tell you how it sounds to us on our rigs.

My suggestion for now though would be to start a brand new patch from scratch without a cab block on the grid. Then start tweaking your sound from there, without a cab IR. If you still can't get a good sound after starting from scratch (including placing a PEQ at the end of the chain to chop off some extra highs if needed), then let us know. Actually, let us know either way.

So..
1. post your patch!
2. dial in a brand new patch without a cab block and see if you can make it sound good. After you're done, A/B it against your old patch and see which one you prefer.
I plan on posting my patch as soon as I can lol. Thanks everyone for the advice
 
I heard those HB cabs with V30's are kind of flatter response / (ie: heavy mids) as it is, relative to other Celestion's. Those amps are also mid-heavy, making matters worse.

Traditionally I'd recommend turning cab sims off, but in this case seems best to leave them on.

Won't be 'flat' or 'authentic' or whatever, but if it sounds good who cares....

keep in mind that the tone may change once those V30's break in. I heard that happens with those HB V30's.
I have had the cab about a year and have only gigged it twice meaning that it’s only been at high volumes a few times. Back when I gigged it I was using a headrush pedalboard but that’s irrelevant. I never knew that v30s take time to break in??
 
Maybe the setup doesn't sound bad, maybe you just tweaked it to sound good with cab sims on which required over compensation. When you turn them off it sounds bad to you because it's too extreme without the cab block. I used to use an mxr 10 band with quite a curve on my Mesa Mark V. Turning it off made the amp sound like fizz city. That's because I had presence super high and treble very high to compensate for the frequencies I cut to "smoothen it out." Eventually I learned how to dial it in to sound good without the mxr and now if I do use the eq for flavor it only requires very subtle bumps or cuts to get what I want.

All that to say, try a new preset from scratch to build with cab sims off. Mind the presence and high treble in the advanced page. Good tones have been had before the speaker impedance curves were introduced. But don't ignore them because they can be the final piece once you've got a good tone set up.
 
I have one of the HB 2x12's with the V30's as well. Those are 100% without a doubt naturally bright cabs. They are brighter than my JCM800 4x12 with G12T-75's and that's saying something. Cab sim may just work better for that cab. I even roll off the highs with a parametric EQ on some of my darker speakers.
 
Strange to have a bad sound while removing irs in general . The only time I tried the axe in the return in my tube head , and I have tried with all the modelers, the sound is quickly great . It’s harder to have a nice sound with irs
 
I'm not sure what type of music you play but here's a preset I use a lot with the HBE model. I have cab modeling disabled globally and I'm running into a Matrix GT1000FX and a Mesa 2x12 Vertical cab. Try it out and let me know how it sounds to you. In my space it sounds MASSIVE with a Les Paul in dropped D!!
 

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I'm not sure what type of music you play but here's a preset I use a lot with the HBE model. I have cab and power amp modelling disabling globally and I'm running into a Matrix GT1000FX and a Mesa 2x12 Vertical cab. Try it out and let me know how it sounds to you. In my space it sounds MASSIVE with a Les Paul in dropped D!!
Interesting, why do you turn off Poweramp sim too.?
 
With a solid state amp it’s better to turn it off.
I believe that is backwards. With solid state power amp you leave power amp modelling on because the SS Poweramp won't color the sound. Then with a tube power amp you turn it off. If you're getting the sound you want, that's all that matters.
 
I believe that is backwards. With solid state power amp you leave power amp modelling on because the SS Poweramp won't color the sound. Then with a tube power amp you turn it off. If you're getting the sound you want, that's all that matters.
Check my edit, I was mistaken. You responded too quick before I could edit lol. Power amp modelling is on. I’ve been experimenting going back and forth between 4CM and through a solid state amp recently and mixed them up. I also edited my original post to avoid further confusion.
 
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I have had the cab about a year and have only gigged it twice meaning that it’s only been at high volumes a few times. Back when I gigged it I was using a headrush pedalboard but that’s irrelevant. I never knew that v30s take time to break in??

I have one of the HB 2x12's with the V30's as well. Those are 100% without a doubt naturally bright cabs. They are brighter than my JCM800 4x12 with G12T-75's and that's saying something. Cab sim may just work better for that cab. I even roll off the highs with a parametric EQ on some of my darker speakers.

Yeah that's what I was referring to - I'm not up on all the details, but not all V30's are made in the same facility. The ones HB uses tend to be brighter and take a hell of a long time to break in, according to reviews I've read (I was extensively researching your cab a few months ago and came across all this). Once they break in though, I hear they're great - until then they're pretty bright.

if cab sims on sounds good - run with it



edit - if you ever get curious about changing speakers - try Celestion Alnico Creams.... they're amazing.
 
Yeah that's what I was referring to - I'm not up on all the details, but not all V30's are made in the same facility. The ones HB uses tend to be brighter and take a hell of a long time to break in, according to reviews I've read (I was extensively researching your cab a few months ago and came across all this). Once they break in though, I hear they're great - until then they're pretty bright.

if cab sims on sounds good - run with it



edit - if you ever get curious about changing speakers - try Celestion Alnico Creams.... they're amazing.
FWIW, English and Chinese made V30s are very similar (from experience).
 
My setup through a Mesa 295 sound killer.

I use an eq before output 4 on some patches.
Some has PA sim on, others are disabled.

No irs involved with any of my cabs.

4x12 cabs with Greenback/V30/WGS ET65
and one 2x12 with V30.
 
With solid state power amp you leave power amp modelling on because the SS Poweramp won't color the sound.
Also because most SS/Tube stereo power amps don't generate much power amp distortion - so for hi gain tones where most breakup is coming from the pre, one could get away with turning power amp sim off, but, for other amps (ie AC30), power amp distortion is a big part of the sound which typical stereo ss/tube power amps can't replace so power amp sim would def need to be on for these. Even using Axe at low volume thru return of my little 5w tube combo I need to have power amp sim on for amp models that rely heavily on power amp tone/distortion.
 
FWIW, English and Chinese made V30s are very similar (from experience).

Here's a A/B comparison. I hear a big difference. But if you've had both and think they're similar that's cool. I personally don't have experience with them. Maybe the differences are more subtle than the video would suggest

 
Here's a A/B comparison. I hear a big difference. But if you've had both and think they're similar that's cool. I personally don't have experience with them. Maybe the differences are more subtle than the video would suggest
Thanks for the video, it's absolutely staggering. Don't remember them being so different. That's actually fizz wars vs smoothness.
 
Here's a A/B comparison. I hear a big difference. But if you've had both and think they're similar that's cool. I personally don't have experience with them. Maybe the differences are more subtle than the video would suggest


Mesa’s V30’s do sound different, but it also depends on the design of the cab/box itself.
Like any speaker.
 
FWIW you do want a few hours of loud play time on them.

I got a brand new Marshall 1960AV earlier in the year and thought "what have I done..." when I first got it because it sounded rather awful. Thin and brittle.

But I left a Yamaha-recommended speaker-break in track running for a day or two and it helped big time. Sounded like space aliens invaded the basement. A few more hours of rather loud playing over the next few weeks, and it sounds very nice. No fizz and instead has that thick syrupy sound I associate with V30s.
 
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